Published date: 06 October 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
A DRUNKEN man who went looking for an alleged sex offender while armed with a knife and a wheel brace was jailed yesterday.
Colin James Clarke, 39, of Flint, had seen a press report of a man from Oakenholt who had been charged with sexual assault and whose case had been adjourned for trial.
At Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold, he was told that he was trying to take the law into his own hands irrespective of the guilt or otherwise of the other man.
Clarke received a total of 26 weeks’ imprisonment after he admitted possessing the weapons in Chester Road, Oakenholt, on the night of September 15.
District Judge Gwyn Jones said that it was possession of weapons in dangerous circumstances.
When searching for the man he had approached a random woman at her home who would have been in fear when he showed her the knife and wheel brace.
He had been encouraged to do it by another person, there was some degree of pre-planning and it was clear he wanted to take the law into his own hands whether the information he had was correct or not.
“It is quite clear you went to vent your anger at this man irrespective of his guilt or innocence,” the judge said.
Probation officer Andrew Connah said Clarke, who lived in a flat in Flint High Street, accepted full responsibility for what he had done when fuelled by alcohol and urged on by another.
“On reflection, he considers himself to be something of an idiot.
“He does not understand what he hoped to prove by strutting up and down the street like some sort of vigilante,” he said.
The defendant understood that the woman he approached, when looking for the man, would have been fearful.
Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said that at 3.30pm a woman answered the door and the defendant, a stranger, was there asking if a named man lived there.
He appeared drunk but calm, she went out to speak to him but closed the door behind her.
Clarke said that he was looking for a sex offender who he alleged lived in the area and then showed her the knife and wheel brace hidden in his clothing.
He showed her a newspaper cutting of a case in court and then his demeanour changed, his voice took on a serious tone and he started bouncing around from one foot to another.
She told him he should leave it to the police, but he said that “sometimes, you need to take matters into your own hands.”
He told her: “I will kill him. Someone is going to die tonight.”
Before leaving, it was alleged he told her she was sexy and asked if he could have a kiss?
She refused and he asked for “a high five”. He then left and she raised the alarm.
Police arrested him and the knife was found in a garden and the wheel brace in a recycling bin.
Cautioned, he said that he wanted to stab the man in the neck.
But later interviewed, he said he did not believe he would have done anything but would have turned the other way.
Bethan Jones, defending, said that her client co-operated with police and entered early guilty pleas.
The qualified upholsterer had not been in trouble for 12 years.
He was alcohol dependent and had taken copious amounts of alcohol before he decided to go and find the man and remonstrate with him.
Her client went knocking on doors looking for him but he would never have found him because he was in the wrong place.
He wished to apologise to the lady who had been disturbed.
Miss Jones stressed that the weapons had not been brandished
http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/167541/drunk-man-from-flint-armed-with-a-knife-searched-for-alleged-sex-offender.aspx
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